Quote:
Originally Posted by bmarlowe1
Yipe Owens (major league debut 1905) it is. Note that his Baseball-Reference image is actually a photo of Frank Owen (major league debut 1901) who is also sometimes known as Yip.
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I think the nickname Yip should only apply to pitcher Frank Owen. As the SABR bioproject quoted below notes, there is a reasonable chance that "Yip" was only attributed to catcher Frank Owens due to confusion between the two players with similar names. I know Yip has persisted for both players for quite some time, but it only makes sense as a nickname for the pitcher from Ypsilanti.
BTW, great work Don and Mark. I wish there were more threads like this.
Quote from
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/e2b171ab :
"Where did the nickname Yip come from? We have been able to find only a couple of references to Yip Owens, both more than five years after he’d finished playing in the majors. It’s entirely possible those were mistakes, confusing him with another man of a similar name, Frank Malcolm Owen, who pitched in the American League starting in 1901 and was a 21-game winner both in 1904 and 1905 for the White Sox. Frank Malcolm Owen came from Ypsilanti, Michigan, and understandably did get the nickname Yip used occasionally in print during his career. When Frank Owens the catcher came along just a few years later, he may have picked up the name when he arrived – or it may simply be a mistake. Such mistakes were made; Owen – the pitcher – was frequently referred to as Owens (with the “s”) in print at the time. And there are times when Owens was referred to as Owen."
"White Sox owner Charles Comiskey had his men travel to California again in the spring of 1910, and Owens contracted tonsillitis in Sacramento. "
03-27-2014, 10:00 PM
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